The blog currently finds itself in Chicago, looking for a sublet, and maybe, just maybe, a full-time job. In my last three days though, I have gotten to see the Dodgers-Cubs series.

The Cubs have now won three in a row, more importantly though, they are winning games they never would have won in years past. Take tonight for example, they tie it in the bottom of the ninth off one of the best closers in baseball, and then win it in the tenth.

This team has a chance to do something special this year. The pieces are in place, and if Jim Hendry makes a couple of good moves at the trade deadline, they could really be in good shape.

Even when the Cubs lose, I still think this team is going to win the next day. It’s the first time in a while, maybe ever, that I have actually felt this way.

“To me, the first and 15th, when that paycheck comes in, it tells you who the ace is. They don’t get paid really, really well unless they’ve done some productive work. Zambrano is the guy we lean on the most.”—–Lou Piniella

Carlos Zambrano got another win tonight, this time over the Padres…..

Last week, I went to DC, and got a chance to see the new Nats Park. Overall, I was impressed with a lot of what I saw. The park is very nice, and has great sightlines. The seats have plenty of legroom, and I have never been to a stadium that has better food options. There is a Five Guys,
inside the park itself, and there is a local bar-b-que joint called Red Hot & Blue that is very popular as well.

The thing is, while I think the Nats did a solid job with the park, there are still a few things that bothered me. First and foremost being all of the empty seats behind home plate. I went to every game of the Cubs-Nats series and the place was pretty full each day…..except for the section behind the plate.

You see, the Nats are charging fans $325 bucks ($335 for premium games, like the ones against the Cubs) for the “Presidential Seats” behind the plate, thus making the place look fairly empty when
watching the game on television. A few of my friends called me over the weekend to ask why it was so empty at the park. I told them that it was actually packed, just that the angle they saw on tv, into home plate, made it seem otherwise.

The other thing that really bugged me was that at several points throughout the weekend, the place was dead. The fans just did not seem to be into it most of the time. Considering half of the park was full of Cubs fans, I couldn’t help but think what it must be like when
the Nats are playing…let’s say, the Marlins.

The most excited I saw the Nats fans during the entire weekend, aside from Wil Nieves’ walk-off home run on Friday night, was during the Presidents’ race each day. They seemed to enjoy the race, and cheering for their Presidents, much more than they did for their own team.

Granted, although the Nats took two of three from the Cubs, the team is just not very good. Washington’s offense is hard to watch, and the team itself doesn’t have any superstars on it, so maybe that’s why fans seem to embrace Teddy, Abe, George, and Thomas the way that they
do.

That’s really the problem though. No fan is going to spend anything close to $325 dollars on a ticket to a baseball game, when the most exciting part of the day comes when four dead Presidents come racing down the first base line.

Until the Nats can find a way to improve the product on the field though, people are not going to continue to come out to the park, after this initial homeymoon period with it ends.

The team can start by finding a way to fill up those seats behind home plate. I propose that each fan entering a Nats game be given a stub with one of the President’s names on it. Whichever fans have that night’s winner on their stub, are then entered into a drawing for the empty seats behind home plate for a future game.

The winners of the drawing would be announced towards the end of each game, and be given a voucher for two “Presidential Seats” for a future game. This way, all fans would get a chance to experience Nats baseball up close and personal, and it also would make the team look better from a PR standpoint, because it would fill those seats up behind the plate, and give fans something else to look forward to each day, besides watching a sub .500 team.

Is this all wishful thinking? Of course. But hey, anything can happen. Plus, Teddy has to win some day right…….

“You’re damn right I thought about it,” Piniella snapped back. “You think I’m stupid or something?”—-Lou Piniella when asked whether he thought about replacing Soriano in the ninth.

Man that loss stunk, but it’s ok, the Cubs will win tomorrow

“I’m not quite sure how I should feel about it.”—Kosuke Fukudome, through an interpreter, on what his thoughts are on being the cover boy for this week’s Sports Illustrated.

Yet another reason why it was a good move to sign Fukudome. Do you think he even knows or cares about some Billy Goat Curse, or about being on the cover of some magazine?

Kosuke, don’t even think about it buddy….just keep doing what you’re doing…Americans, specifically Cubs fans, are just crazy about stuff like this.

The Cubs will be in DC this weekend and so will I….so the blog will rest…although if I have a few minutes I will check in with a post on the new Nats Park…and the Five Guys that is inside…

Here’s to hoping that both the Cubs and the Magic can get some wins in the meantime…..

The Cubs won for the 10,000th time in their history on Tuesday night. The funny thing is that the win came in a game they almost always lose. Going into the 9th the Cubs were down by a run, until Aramis Ramirez deposited a two-run homer into the left-field seats.

So here comes Kerry Wood into close…two quick outs…and then bam-bam the Rockies score a run to tie the game. Here’s where it gets weird for the Cubs and their fans. Wood actually got out of the inning and then the Cubs scored another run in the tenth. Carlos Marmol came in to the game in the bottom half of the inning and shut the door to preserve the win.

This kind of game does not usually happen for the Cubs. They find a way to lose, they don’t find a way to win. These are the types of games that good teams win. Maybe that’s what everybody has to realize this year….the Cubs are good.

The lineup is solid, and is only going to get better when a healthy Soriano returns. The bullpen is solid, especially with two closers at the back, in Wood and Marmol.

Now, I am trying not to think too much like a Cubs fan, because if I do, I’ll realize that what I’m seeing is really just a mirage, and they will figure out a way to start playing badly. I just don’t see that happeneing this year though. This team is as deep as I can remember it in years.

Maybe, just maybe, this is, in fact, the year…..

“P-I-E DID IT!!!! P-I-E DID IT!!!!!”

My grandma, Nonni, after Felix Pie knocked out a three-run homer in the eighth inning, as the Cubs beat the Mets 7-1 last night.

Marissa Miller is going to make history tomorrow at Wrigley Field. She will become the hottest person to ever throw out a ceremonial first pitch. She has had some competition for sure. Halle Berry a few years ago in Montreal, Victoria Beckham in Los Angeles last year, and Anna Kournikova, in Texas, and again in San Diego a couple of years back.

Nobody can top Miller though.

The fact that she will be at Wrigley tomorrow will cause quite a commotion before the game, in the stands. Guys all over the place will be trying to get a picture, or just take a closer look at the SI Cover Model. This will be nothing, though, compared to what will be going on in the Cubs clubhouse. See, that’s where the team will be deciding which player gets to catch Miller’s pitch.

When Kournikova threw the first-pitch out in Texas, the Rangers decided that David Dellucci was going to be the lucky guy behind the plate. He told the Fort-Worth Star Telegram back in ‘04, “I’m definitely going to make sure I brush my teeth, that I’m not sweating and that I put on cologne. I guess they felt sorry for me because I’m single.”

Obviously, things ended all right for Dellucci, he ended up giving Kournikova a kiss on the cheek after it was all over.

So who gets the honor of possbily giving Miller an awkward kiss on the cheek when it’s all over tomorrow? I’m convinced there is going to be a Royal Rumble-esque battle royale in the clubhouse before the game. The whole team starts in the ring, and slowly but surely people start to get tossed out.

As time wears on, it comes down to 10 people. Carlos Zambrano, Henry Blanco, Daryle Ward, Kosuke Fukudome, Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot, Ronny Cedeno, Felix Pie, Geovany Soto, and Ryan Dempster.

Zambrano tries to bully everyone out at first, and then the tag-team of Fontenot and Theriot (The Cajun Connection) come flying out of nowhere to knock him out of the the ring, the force of which knocks both of them out as well. Dempster, dressed in a cape and facemask, under the stage name “The Closer,” jumps off the top turnbuckle onto Soto, who decides, “Man, this guy is crazy,” and gets out of the ring.

Daryle Ward then gets up on the ropes, trying to do his patented Yokozuna drop on Blanco, “Hank White,” and gets it done, knocking out Blanco. However, this move leaves Ward unable to continue because he doesn’t have any energy left. So those two get rolled out of the ring.

So, that leaves us with Dempster, Pie, Cedeno, and Fukudome. Dempster continues to run around the ring, screaming….Pie and Cedeno are trying to hit somebody or something, but keep swinging and missing. Finally, Dempster walks towards Pie and Cedeno, and gets a little outside assistance from Scott Eyre, who couldn’t get into the brawl because of his elbow injury.

Eyre hands Dempster a clubhouse chair and knocks Pie and Cedeno out of the ring. Now it’s just Dempster and Fukudome “The Osaki Octopus”. Fukudome has just been standing in the corner during the whole match trying to figure out why these guys are doing all of this.

So Dempster decides this is it…”This one’s for Marissa,” he screams. Just as he begins rushing towards Kosuke, a door opens in the Cubs clubhouse…it’s Yosh Kawano. “DUCK KOSUKE!!!” He screams towards Fukudome. So he does, and Dempster whiffs, as he comes toppling over the ropes.

It’s over.

Lou Piniella walks into the ring, raises Fukudome’s arm and tells him he gets to catch Miller’s pitch.

Kosuke still won’t understand what all the fuss is over, until he walks out to the field and sees Miller for the first time.

Then I’ll bet he’ll be glad he came to America.